The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.

 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgements of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

 Psalms 19:7-9

 All Scripture (the 66 books of the Bible) is God-breathed (Greek, theopneustos) (2 Timothy 3:16).  Hence, Scripture is the inspired (not ‘dictated’, except in rare part) written Word of God.  God’s understanding is infinite (Psalms 147:5).  Hence, God is omniscient.  God cannot lie or err (Titus 1:2; John 17:17; Psalms 119:160).  Hence, it would be contrary to God’s nature for Him to lie or to err.  God is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).  Hence, God is immutable.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but God’s words will never pass away (Matthew 24:35).  Hence, Scripture is as relevant today as it ever was.  One either believes these facts or he does not believe them (Matthew 12:30).  Hence, one is not afforded the luxury of concluding with veracity that he is a loyal follower of Jesus Christ though he believes ‘this’ but not ‘that’ in Scripture.  Scripture, in its original autographs, is wholly trustworthy; everything that it asserts -- and its assertions are wide-ranging -- is factually true in every detail.  Indeed, it is now the 21^st century and (ancient) Scripture has not at all been proven to be wrong!  This claim cannot be made regarding any other religious writings of a world standing comparable with that of Scripture.  Hallelujah!

 Moreover, please particularly note this:  In quoting Psalms 82:6, Christ referred to Scripture as ‘Law’ (John 10:34,35).  Remember, now, the Law of the LORD is perfect (Psalms 19:7).  Hence, Christ described Scripture as being perfect.  This is not an invalid conclusion of a syllogism!

 In their recently published booklet, The Gift of Scripture, the Catholic bishops of England, Wales, and Scotland, who audaciously reject Christ’s description of Scripture, have consciously provided to the enemies of our Lord and Saviour ammunition with which to attack Bible-believers.  To see what I mean, please read the Times Online article "Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible", written by Ruth Gledhill and posted on 5 October 2005.  As you are reading her article, please be aware that she, too, makes false comments (e.g. she implies that the Bible is at odds with the Copernican view of the solar system).

 “We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete historical precision,” say the compromising bishops.  They feel that the early chapters of Genesis (amongst other biblical passages) are not to be taken literally (though literally is clearly how the Holy Spirit via Moses intended that Genesis 1 – 11 be taken) as they feel that these early chapters could not be described as historical writing, and the bishops compare them with myths.  Ostensibly, the bishops concede that the Bible is accurate in matters of salvation; however, do they really?  They could not (Luke 16:31, noting Romans 10:8-10).  “If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?” (John 3:12).

 Some gift that the bishops must really consider Scripture to be!  Their nonsense is borne partly of an intimidation-causing lack of knowledge, and so we can and we must confidently deploy knowledge in response.  {They ought to pay close attention to what we find in Hosea 4:6, to what we find in Zechariah 11:16,17, and to what we find in James 3:1.  As for us:  We ought to pay closer attention to what we find about the Sword in Ephesians 6:17, to what we find in 1 Peter 3:15, to what we find in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, and to what we find in 2 Timothy 2:24-26.}  We ought also to take heed of the admonition of literary scholar, C S Lewis (1898 – 1963), given to us in his The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses:

 “If all the world were Christian, it might not matter if all the world were uneducated.  But, as it is, a cultural life will exist outside the Church whether it exists inside or not.  To be ignorant and simple now -- not to be able to meet the enemies on their own ground -- would be to throw down our weapons, and to betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defense but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen.  Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.  The cool intellect must work not only against cool intellect on the other side, but against the muddy heathen mysticisms which deny intellect altogether” (“Learning in War-Time”, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, p 50, 1949).

 Clearly, the bishops are very much indeed behind the hermeneutics (the interpretation of Scripture) eight ball.  I acknowledge that some differences amongst Christians -- not that they are Christians -- are fine (Romans 14), but overall differences between us Christians on the one hand and these men and their ilk on the other hand are extremely profound -- and are in no way at all fine.  Given that the bishops are doctrinal Catholics, the most important differences between Christians and them actually pertain to the matter of soteriology (salvation).  Adopting analogia scriptura in the knowledge that the written Word of God cannot contradict itself, we see that the gift of salvation from the righteous eternal wrath of God is by grace (Christianity’s distinguishing feature) alone through faith (and that faith includes repentance; indeed, one cannot have the one without the other) alone in Christ alone, with the sufficient Scripture alone being our supreme authority regarding faith, conduct, and, in fact, regarding everything that it teaches (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 3:23; James 2:10; Ephesians 2:3-5,8-10; John 1:12; Galatians 2:16; Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Luke 8:21; James 2:26; Luke 3:8a; Romans 12:1,2; John 14:6; Revelation 22:18,19; Deuteronomy 4:2; 2 Timothy 3:16,17).  Hallelujah!  We cannot and we do not receive the gift of salvation -- neither in whole nor in part and neither directly nor indirectly -- by our attempts at good works, and we cannot and we do not remain saved -- neither in whole nor in part and neither directly nor indirectly -- by our attempts at good works (Isaiah 64:6).  To reject the grace is to reject the gift (Galatians 1:6-9; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).  Of course, faith in Christ encompasses faith in this impeccably sinless Saviour’s unique (it is for now unique) glorious complete and bodily resurrection from the dead (Romans 10:9; John 2:19-21; Luke 24:36-43) after His accepted perfect sacrificial divine justice-satisfying atoning … bloody … payment for our sin debt in full (which we eternally could never do for ourselves, neither in whole nor in part) on the cross of Golgotha (John 19:30) -- allowing for our justifying, releasing forgiveness (Romans 10:10), allowing for our eternal life in heaven in lieu of our eternal conscious destruction in hell (John 17:3; Luke 12:5; Hebrews 9:27; 2 Thessalonians 1:9) -- and faith in Christ also encompasses faith in His (monotheistic) full deity as the second Person of the three-Person Trinity (Romans 10:9; Hebrews 1:8; Colossians 1:16; Matthew 28:19; Genesis 1:26) along with faith in His full humanity (Philippians 2:5-7).  God is infinitely gracious and infinitely merciful to His children (Christians), as is evidenced by His complete, eternal forgiveness of us of all of our sins.  God’s infinite justice, however, insists that His penalty for our sin debt is paid (Romans 3:25,26).  God’s justifying forgiveness of His children means that He would never and that He will never call upon either them or anybody else to -- either wholly or partly and either personally or as a group -- make this payment for His children’s sins.  This is a reason why, given His amazing desire to be reconciled with us, God had to be the One who made the payment for our sin debt -- and this payment had to be made in full, for otherwise there is not forgiveness.  Please understand that unless the one who pays the price -- and pays it in full -- is the one who was wronged, forgiveness has not taken place (I am not saying that one cannot properly defend himself and still be forgiving, and I am not saying that honourable justice systems and honourable police forces, which are third parties at arm’s length and so could not be considered to be in any way vengeful, are improper).  His substitutionary spiritual separation from the Father, along with other things that the Son did at the cross of Golgotha, was God’s sufficient payment for our sin debt in full (Matthew 27:46; Luke 24:6,7)!  Imagine how He suffered!!  This really ought to accentuate within all of our hearts the truth that “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16,17) (emphasis mine).  Hallelujah!!  Whilst they are in their present state of spiritual affairs, we shall never agree with the bishops and their ilk in the matter of soteriology (1 Corinthians 2:6-16; Matthew 13:10-16).

 {As an aside, I note that the regular forgiveness-seeking confession (to God (1 Timothy 2:5,6)) and repentance that Christians undertake regarding the sins that we daily commit is undertaken so that God grants us ‘sanctifying’, or ‘temporal’, forgiveness of these sins, and this is in order that we may continue to enjoy our fellowship with Him whilst we are still here (1 John 1:3-10).  However, He may still chasten -- not ‘punish’ -- us for these sins whilst we are still here (Hebrews 12:5,6), and, though we as Christians may still spend eternity in heaven, we may forfeit some of our eternal rewards there (Matthew 25:14-30; Matthew 20:16) on account of these sins.  There is also the requirement for restitution (Luke 19:8; Exodus 22:1).}

 The bishops take their cues from higher-up in the Catholic hierarchy.  In his 22 October 1996 message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pope John Paul II stated his support for the hypothesis of theistic evolution (the hypothesis that, over eons, God used evolution -- mutations or evolutionary processes which lead to an increase in genetic information -- to create all physical life forms from a single organism).  Evolution is something that has NEVER been observed and, if it were true, it should by now have been observed aplenty.  Theistic evolution ultimately renders as meaningless Christ’s death on the cross of Golgotha as, if death predates the fall of man (and if one believes in eons, he must also believe in this order of events on account of his view of the fossil record), the wages of sin could not be spiritual and physical death (Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22).  What an opinion of God that theistic evolutionists must have (Genesis 1:31)!  What testimony that all of this is for papal ‘ex cathedra’ pronouncements!  The bishops still consider the pope, presently Pope Benedict XVI, to be infallible!!  Hebrew expert, Dr Marcus Dods (1834 – 1909), correctly stated, “…if, for example, the word ‘day’ in these chapters [JT: Genesis 1:1 – 2:4] does not mean a period of twenty-four hours, the interpretation of Scripture is hopeless” (The Book of Genesis, Armstrong, New York, NY, p 4, 1907).  God says that He spoke everything into creation over six consecutive literal (24-hour) days.  Therefore, He did.  Ipso facto.  Also, the biblical chronologies and genealogies do not allow for eons.  Here, again, is that old hermeneutics eight ball that the bishops and their ilk are behind.

 Many Catholic priests and nuns are into humanism, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.  Considering their leaders, why would they not be into these things?!  Oh, they are into them!

 {Catholics, in particular, ought to pay closer attention to what we find in 2 Peter 3:15,16, to what we find in Revelation 22:18,19, and to what we find in Deuteronomy 4:2.}

 It is easy to see how Catholics leave themselves vulnerable to claims that their trinity is in fact Mary, ‘the saints’, and the pope -- in that order.

 Scriptural historicity

 Whatever Scripture asserts about history is always absolutely reliable in every detail.  Scripture has not been proven to be wrong in these things.

 An inexhaustible list of facts:--

• Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, along with the Scripture writers, knew this.

 Some cases in point are:

 Matthew 19:3-5 and Genesis 2:24 -- and moreover, should you be thinking that there is any truth whatever in the hypothesis of evolution or of progressive creation, please particularly note these words:  “[H]e which made them at the beginning made them male and female” (Matthew 19:4) (emphasis mine).

 Matthew 12:40 and Jonah 1:17.

 Matthew 24:38,39 and Luke 17:26,27 and 2 Peter 2:5 & 3:6 and Genesis 6-8, regarding the great (global) flood.

 Matthew 10:15 and Luke 17:28,29 and 2 Peter 2:6,7 and Genesis 19.

 John 5:39,40. Matthew 5:17-19. Luke 16:29. Luke 24:25. Luke 24:44. Matthew 21:42. Mark 9:13.

• Eminent classical scholar, historian, and archaeologist, Sir William Ramsay (1851 – 1939), had, as a sceptic, planned to disprove Scripture by focusing his attention on Luke’s writings -- particularly on Acts and on Luke 2:1-7.

Luke had attracted Ramsay’s attention, as Luke was extremely particular about history (Luke 1:1-4).

After much painstaking research, Ramsay’s attitude toward Scripture changed considerably.  In his book, St Paul the Traveller and Roman Citizen, Ramsay commended Luke as being “among the historians of the first rank” (Baker, Grand Rapids, MI, p 4, 1949).

Moreover, in his book, The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament, Ramsay declared that Scripture’s accuracy is attested to by archaeology at many specific points (Baker, Grand Rapids, MI, p 222, 1953).

• Every scriptural prophecy -- and please take particular note of the many Messianic prophecies -- that was to have taken place by now has indeed taken place, and it has done so exactly as the corresponding prophet had prophesied that it would.  This claim cannot be made regarding any other religious writings.

• There exists much textual attestation to scriptural accuracy.  For example the Dead Sea scrolls, which were discovered in the middle of the 20^th century.

• There is a marked absence of contemporary refutation of Scripture.

• Our Lord’s resurrection had a hugely edifying effect upon His apostles; their faith rose enormously (John 20:24-29).

• Respected Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus (born Joseph ben Matthias in Jerusalem) (c AD 37 – c 100), wrote within paragraph 3 of chapter 3 of book XVIII of his Antiquities of the Jews, “…for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him” (The Works of Flavius Josephus Translated by William Whiston, Sage Software (ed), Christian Classics Ethereal Library, online at http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/ant-18.htm, cited by me on 4 January 2006).

Scripture’s scientific veracity

The Bible is not a science textbook, but whatever Scripture asserts about scientific affairs is always absolutely true in every detail.  Scripture has not been proven to be wrong in these things.  In fact, modern science is still catching up to (ancient) Scripture!

Man’s access to scriptural knowledge pertaining to scientific affairs vastly predates man’s general knowledge pertaining to scientific affairs in many areas.

An inexhaustible list of facts:--

• The earth is spherical (Isaiah 40:22; Luke 17:34,35).

• The earth is not supported by anything (Job 26:7), not even e.g. Atlas!

• The stars are countless (Genesis 15:5 & 22:17; Jeremiah 33:22).  In the 2^nd century, Ptolemy declared that there are 1056 stars!

• Light spectra analysis (1 Corinthians 15:41).

• The hydrologic (water) cycle (Job 36:27-29; Psalms 135:7; Jeremiah 10:13).

• The recirculation of water (Ecclesiastes 1:7; Isaiah 55:10).

• Clouds hold an amazing amount of water as condensation (Job 26:8 & 37:11).

• Hydrothermal vents (Genesis 7:11; Job 38:16).

• Blood circulation is the key factor in physical life (Leviticus 17:11).  This fact was scientifically discovered in the 17^th century.

• The first and second laws of thermodynamics (Isaiah 51:6).

• Living things reproduce after their kind (Genesis 1:11,12,21,24,25).  In his book, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, molecular biologist, Dr Michael Denton, who is not a creationist, acknowledges that serious problems exist in relation to concepts such as chance processes generating new genetic information -- or even living things at all (Burnett, London, 1985).  Actually, even the evolution hypothesis superstar of history, Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882), acknowledged that serious problems exist in relation to the concept of abiogenesis (also called spontaneous generation, or chemical evolution, or life arising from non-living chemicals) (The Origin of Species, Collier, New York, NY, p 316, 1900).

• Sea currents (Psalms 8:8).

• Many of medicine’s principles of health and hygiene could have been understood much earlier if man generally had diligently read and observed Mosaic scriptural revelation in the Pentateuch.

Some cases in point are:

The isolation and quarantining of the ill was prescribed, along with details as to how to treat them (Leviticus 13,14; Numbers 5:2-4; Deuteronomy 23:10).

The destruction of contaminated objects was prescribed (Leviticus 11:33 & 13:47-52,55,57 & 15:12).

The burial of faecal waste at a distance from camp was prescribed (Deuteronomy 23:12,13).

The eating of animals that died of natural causes was disallowed (Leviticus 22:8; Deuteronomy 14:21).

How to wash was prescribed (Leviticus 11:24-28,40 & 15; Numbers 19:11,12,14-22).  Those who did not observe scriptural prescriptions in this area were plagued by pathogens, often resulting in those people’s disease and in their death.

Sexually transmitted diseases could virtually be eliminated if sexual relations were contained within the monogamous type of marriage (Genesis 2:23,24; Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 18,20:10-21).

The burial of the dead was prescribed (Deuteronomy 21:23).

• Man and dinosaur co-existed (Job 40:15 & 41:1).  The average dinosaur was approximately the size of a sheep.  Secular scientists have yet to formally and openly accept this fact of co-existence; their worldview may mean that, in this life, most of them never will.

• Atmospheric circulation (Ecclesiastes 1:6).

• The principles of fluid dynamics (Job 28:25).  Air weight was scientifically proven approximately 300 years ago.

• The chemical nature of flesh (Genesis 2:7 & 3:19).

• Mental and spiritual health affects physical health (Proverbs 17:22) -- and praise the Lord for the love of which we are told in Psalms 34:18!

• We are told that the whole world will see Christ returning, and so perhaps His return will utilize television and/or systems similar (Matthew 24:30).

Finally, I exhort you to look to God for truth, and to not look to fallen, fallible man for truth (Colossians 2:8; Matthew 11:25-27; Matthew 5:20).

He who has an ear, let him hear (Revelation 3:22).

Doxology

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.  Amen.

Jude 24,25

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